Energy is produced from a variety of sources such as fossil fuels, nuclear energy, solar energy, and water movement. Now a day, fossil fuels and carbon represent the base of energy resources in terms of dependency. However, depletion and pollution are the biggest financial and environmental concerns for society.
The use of tidal and/or wave movement from the sea provides an energy source that is abundant and does not produce waste products that present pollution problems. Wave energy is a viable option since it comes from the wind, the sun, the tides and it's more concentrated that solar energy alone and wind forces combined. Some prior art devices compress air and use it as a driving force. Some pump water directly through waterwheels. Some others store water in an elevated reservoir to be used as a hydraulic head for water turbine. Still others attempt a direct mechanical coupling to the ultimate load to be driven.
Existing wave power devices are categorized by the method used to capture the energy of the waves, by the intended location, and by the power take-off. Method types are wave power point absorber, occupying a small area; wave power attenuator, occupying a line parallel to wave propagation; and wave power terminator, occupying a line perpendicular to wave propagation. Locations are shoreline, offshore, and deep water. Types of power take-off include these: hydraulic ram, elastomeric hose pump, pump-to-shore, hydroelectric turbine, air turbine, and linear electrical generator. Systems include oscillating water column, articulated pontoon, wave pump, anchored buoy, fixed buoy, and overtopping reservoir. Several of these designs incorporate parabolic reflectors as a means of increasing the wave energy at the point of capture. Some wave power systems examples are: a pontoon lying in the water is driven by wave action to push or pull a generator; wave action compresses air in a tunnel which drives the vanes of a generator; a device called CETO, currently being tested off Fremantle, Western Australia, has a seafloor pressure transducer coupled to a high-pressure hydraulic pump, which pumps water to shore for driving hydraulic generators or running reverse osmosis desalination; and waves overtop the side of a reservoir, and the water in the reservoir runs hydroelectric generators.
Thus, a need still exists for a practical and economical system that accommodates for variations in the wave energy source and provides an efficient energy conversion means to supply at least part of a regional area power demand.